Cuisine & Culture the Chinese Family Way
This year Qing Ming Festival/Tomb Sweeping fell on the 4th April 2024. It saddens me that yet again, I have not been able to pay my respects to my dad and my grandparents on this festival. There are a couple of reasons for this: my family are in Singapore so it takes some preparation to plan a long haul trip from Britain. Also, it is not easy to fly over due to school term and travel costs.
A few months ago, I blogged about my Singapore trip to Haw Par Villa Hell’s museum and the 10 courts of Hell. One of the highlights of this trip was also learning about our dying cultural heritage: The Traditional Chinese Grave. This made me research Chinese tombstones and my uncle managed to provide me with my maternal grandfather’s tombstone photo, which is no longer around. They had exhumed his tomb and placed him along with my grandmother at Toa Payoh Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Monastery in 2013. I will tell you more about why we needed to exhume him in a minute.
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Qing Ming festival is a day where you pay respects at your departed loved one’s grave. The day varies each year as it goes according to the Chinese lunar calendar. This year it falls on the 5 April 2014. However, it is an acceptable tradition for the families to pray to their ancestors 10 days before and 10 days after the actual day. This is to avoid major congestions at the cemeteries and temples. As many countries like Singapore are densely populated and short of land, most of the deceased are cremated. If you would like to know how this festival originated, check out Chinese Culture for more details.
